Paramount has announced that the fifth Star Trek Television series, which will be called simply Enterprise, is currently in production with Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap) signed to star as Captain Jonathan Archer.  Reportedly the series is chronologically the earliest of all the Star Trek sagas, and deals with issues such as the first encounters between Klingons and humans (will the Klingons have their brow ridges or the yellow-skinned, Ming-the-Merciless look of the Klingons in the original series?).  Though no deal has been announced, the likelihood is that Enterprise will debut on the UPN network in the fall (unless there is a strike by the Screen Actors Guild).  Long considered the weaker of the two new broadcast networks, UPN recently acquired Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the WB (see 'Buffy Flees The Frog'), and appears to be poised to make a move to overtake the WB in the battle of the new networks.

 

The question is can Paramount go 'back to the future' and revitalize the hoary franchise by taking Star Trek from the philosophical and diplomatic concerns of Star Trek: Voyager to a more rambunctious action/adventure mode reminiscent of the original series?  Star Trek has had an incredible run and is clearly one of the most important pop culture phenomena of the late 20th century, but interest in Star Trek and Star Trek merchandise has been gradually waning (though a strong coterie of fans remain in spite of decades of withering 'Trekkie' jokes). Indicative of the diminishing power of the Star Trek franchise is the fact that mass market manufacturer Fleer was unable to make money with Star Trek trading cards (though the small, but savvy Rittenhouse Archives has done extremely well with several Star Trek card issues aimed squarely at the core audience of collectors).

 

If Paramount can make Enterprise exciting and different, while still retaining the essence of the franchise's optimistic commitment to exploration and the future, perhaps it will be able to revitalize Star Trek by broadening its appeal and attracting more teen viewers.  But remember that the original Star Trek series was never a ratings winner with the mass audience, and that subsequent Star Trek series triumphed in syndication where overall ratings are generally quite a bit lower than with leading network shows. The problem is that there is now more competition for what is still a limited audience for science fiction. Series like Farscape, Andromeda, and others on the Sci-Fi channel and in syndication have fragmented the science fiction audience.   Enterprise will have to compete against all of those as well as against reruns of the four other Star Trek series.